Payment Volume (TPV)
Total dollar value of transactions processed through a payment platform.
Definition
Total payment volume represents the aggregate dollar amount of all transactions processed by a payment company in a given period. For payment networks like Visa and Mastercard, this is gross dollar volume flowing through their networks. For payment facilitators like PayPal or Square, it represents the value of transactions they process for merchants.
Why It Matters
TPV is the primary revenue driver for payment companies since they earn a small percentage of each transaction. Growth in TPV reflects both organic merchant adoption and secular shifts from cash to digital payments.